The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture processes and technologies are commonly used in fossil fuel-burning plants. The purpose of CO2 capture is to minimize CO2 emissions by capturing/removing CO2 from combustion gas and storing the CO2 for safe disposal or use.
Unfortunately, some CO2 capture technologies produce other unwanted emissions, such as, monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), piperazine, diglycolamine (DGA), 2-Amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (2-AMP), methylamines, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, methanol, ammonia, nitrosamines, and amine degradation products. It has recently been appreciated that some CO2 capture technologies are releasing these unwanted emissions in potentially harmful amounts. It would be advantageous to provide new CO2 capture technologies, systems, and processes that minimize these harmful emissions.
Non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology (also referred to as dielectric barrier discharge, dielectric barrier corona discharge, silent discharge plasma, high energy corona, electron beam plasma corona destruction, electro-catalytic oxidation, and capillary discharge) is currently being studied and developed for removing pollutants from atmospheric emissions. See “Using Non-Thermal Plasma to Control Air Pollutants,” by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, February 2005, EPA-456/R-05-001. Simply stated, NTP processes generally comprise introducing a gas into an electrical field that is sufficiently strong to cause molecules in the gas to form highly reactive free radicals (e.g., O2 changes to O+ and O+). The free radicals then react with pollutants to facilitate removal of the pollutants. For example, NTP technology can be used to convert elemental mercury to mercury oxide in order to facilitate mercury removal from combustion gas. It would be advantageous to provide a NTP process capable of reducing harmful emissions created by CO2 capture processes.
Japanese Patent Application Publication JP2010510871T describes a method of reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions and halogenated volatile organic compounds (HVOCs) emissions using reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced from a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) electrode and a non-thermal plasma field. Korean Patent Application Publication KR102003004340 also describes a method of reducing VOC emissions from a combustion gas using NTP technology. Other patent references that apply NTP technology to VOC removal are U.S. Pat. No. 7,767,167 and International Patent Publication No. WO2011/123301.
It has yet to be appreciated that NTP technologies can be used to reduce unwanted emissions produced from CO2 capture processes (e.g., amines, etc).